High School Sweethearts 3: Family, Wedding Bells, And Pranks
by JMDeaton
Summary: With everything going on and Thanksgiving coming up, Jace and Clary have the wedding right around the corner. Will they, with the help of their 'family,' be able to pull it all off in time? Or will something or everything go horribly wrong?
1. How Much (Part 1)

**If you haven't read High School Sweethearts and High School Sweethearts 2: Surprise, Surprise then you should NOT read this one until you do.**

 **I'd just like to say:**

 **1\. This story does and will have profanity, sexual content and may very well include straight up sexual scenes. So, this is the only warning you will get.**

 **2\. I do not own The Mortal Instruments.**

 **3\. I do not own the songs that will be used in this story.**

 **4\. I do not own the rights to any of the movies or television shows that may be mentioned.**

 **5\. To who ever takes the time to read this, I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 **To all those that have already read the two others, and have been waiting for this one, I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get this posted. Things have been crazy hectic.**

* * *

 **Don't Cha - Pussycat Dolls; Big Poppa -** **Biggie**

* * *

 **Clary**

I groan. "I can't believe I let the two of you talk me into this," I say unamused to Izzy and Magnus, as they hover around me like vultures waiting for their next meal.

Magnus cuts his eyes at my face, looking me right in the eyes. "Well, there was no way in hell, that we were letting you get married in shorts and flip flops, Biscuit."

"I wasn't getting married in shorts and flip flops," I say defensively. I straighten my shoulders, squaring them. "I was going to get married in-"

"I know, pants and boots," Izzy says dramatically with a loud sigh, cutting me off. "But, that isn't good enough for you, _or_ for Jace."

"I'm still trying to figure out how in the _world,_ the two of you talked him into wearing a tux's." I say intriguingly, and with a small laugh as I finish my sentence.

"Jonny," Izzy says simply.

I look up and around for him, but I can't see him anywhere. "Where?"

"He's not here," Magnus says with a chuckle. "The guys still haven't made it here, yet."

"O-kay, then why did you say his name?" I ask confusedly, looking over my shoulder at Izzy.

She laughs. "He told Jace that he had to wear a tux, or he wasn't going to walk you down the aisle and allow him to marry you."

"Why does that sound so familiar?" I ask teasingly. "You know, this kind of feels like prom all over again." I point out.

Izzy laughs knowingly, and I know that she's remembering exactly what I'm talking about.

"What do you mean?" Magnus asks curiously.

"Clary and Jace wanted to go to our junior prom in _normal clothes,_ " Izzy says dramatically, putting air quotes around normal clothes. "They said that they didn't see the point in getting dressed up fancy, and just wanted to be comfortable. But.. none of us would let them. Jocelyn told Clary that it was just one special night, and that she didn't want Clary to look back and regret it. Stephen and Celine wanted Jace to wear a tuxedo and when he still refused, Jon told him that if he didn't, that he wasn't gonna allow Jace to take Clary to prom, and that he'd go as her date instead." She explains with a slight fondness to her tone.

"Aw, I see," Magnus says in amusement. He chuckles as he adds, "That does sound like Jon, though."

I sigh. "I _really_ wish we would have known you back then, Mag-Pie."

"Yeah, we would have had a bigger blast than we already did." Izzy adds with a happy tone in her voice.

"I do too," Magnus states with a tad bit of sorrow in his voice. I believe I hear him sniff. "You two are going to make me cry."

"Why's that?" Izzy asks sympathetically.

"All this walking down memory lane y'all have been doing lately, all the great memories that I wish I could have been there for but missed out on, it's just.." He pauses, trying to search for the word he wants to use.

"Sad." Izzy says simply as I say, "Depressing." with a sigh. The both of us trying to be helpful.

"No, it's all nostalgic." He says matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, well, you can blame it on the hormones." I say jokingly. But in all honesty, I know that it's partially true. The other part is due to the fact, that we are all taking very large steps forward in our lives; that's the other reason for me at least. It seems as if it was only yesterday that we were all in high school; ditching classes from time to time, partying, and just being an all around wild bunch of teenagers. And now, we are all in our twenties, engaged and due to be married in less than a month's time, and Izzy and myself are pregnant making Jace and Jon expectant fathers.

"Speaking of hormones, I'm dying of heat." Izzy says bluntly. I can feel her fanning herself, to my left. "It's like a sauna in here."

"You said that an hour ago, and the thermostat was set on seventy, and nobody has messed with it." Magnus says nonchalantly as he looks around me at Izzy.

"Does that mean we can take a break, now?" I ask through an exhausted breath, secretly hopeful that the answer is yes, as Magnus tugs at the hem line of the dress that I'm wearing. Him and Izzy are having to alter it to fit around my now, slightly, pooching belly.

"I suppose, we can take _another_ break." Magnus replies in mock exasperation.

"Good, cause I need to pee." I say happily as I step down off the little square platform that they have had me standing on, for what has felt like the entire day.

"You know, at this rate, we'll have your wedding dress completely finished _after_ Christmas." He says teasingly with a chuckle.

"That works for me," I say simply as I head towards the bathroom.

"Oh, it _will_ be done before the twenty-seventh," Izzy says confidently. "There's no way in hell, that _I'm_ letting you get married in pants."

"You're no fun, Iz." I say, mimicking how a child would say it, over my shoulder just as I reach the bathroom door. I stop and turn to look at her and Magnus. "We wanted this to be casual and simple, with just our family. But, you two, and apparently with some help from my brother, have turned this into something _so_ much bigger."

Izzy and Magnus both smile at me, proudly.

"We're a family, and-" Izzy begins.

"That's what we're suppose to do." Magnus says assuredly, interrupting her and finishing her sentence for her.

I sigh happily with a smile as I shake my head slightly, at them. _How am I suppose to argue with that?_ I ask myself. I can't. They both have extravagant weddings planned for themselves, and I know that they only want the same thing for mine and Jace's. After all, that _is_ what a real family does. They always want the best for each other, and will do everything humanly possible to make sure it happens. And that's exactly what our family does. We make damn sure that the others have the best. We always push each other to succeed, and reach higher than we thought was even possible for ourselves. We stand by each other through thick _and_ thin. I sigh, inwardly, as I think of...

 _How much I love our family!_

* * *

 **Jace**

"Is Mrs. Penhallow's car ready, yet?" Alec shouts across the garage, over the sound of the air tools that are in use.

"Not yet," Jon hollers back at him. "A couple of more lug-nuts and checking the air in the tires, then she's good to go."

"Alright, I'll let her know." Alec yells back to him.

"Let Starkweather know that his truck is ready, too." Bat yells, and you can hear the hood of the big rig slam shut as he does.

"How's it coming with the Blackwell's suburban?" Alec asks calmly, startling me slightly and causing me to nearly hit my head on the suv's hood that I just so happen to be currently sitting under. I hadn't expected him to appear beside me.

I look over to my right at him, and he's looking under the hood. "At this point, I don't know if it would be cheaper to just buy a new motor, or to rip into this one and just rebuild it."

We haven't been opened long - nearly a month, now - and even though business seems like it's booming, it's actually still pretty slow. So, we are still having to watch our spending. If it wasn't for Luke, Jocelyn, the Lightwoods, Bat's mom, and my own mother telling their friends and clients about us, we would probably still be sitting here twiddling our thumbs; waiting for the next customer that either came across one of Clary's ads, or just happened to see the place on their way by. I figure once people catch wind of this place, by word of mouth, things will pick up. Then, I'll probably be wishing for days like this.

"Why's that?" He asks curiously with his eyebrows furrowed together.

I point at the engine and sigh, "I've been slowly tearing into it and I don't know what his kid was doing, _but_.. not only did he bend a rod, he shoved it into the pan. He also has a _lot_ of oil in the radiator and water in the oil, so you know what that means."

"At least one cracked head," Alec says nonchalantly as he shakes his head. "His boy, Chris, sure did do a number on it." He sighs. "I guess, I'll call Mr. Blackwell and let him know. We'll see what he wants to do from there." He says with a nervous chuckle.

"Tell him not to let his kid drive anymore." I say jokingly, trying to ease his nervousness. It's never easy to break this kind of news to a customer, because you never know how they are going to react. They could blame you for the problem, or they could take it in stride.

"Hell, tell him to let his kid drive more. That means more business for us." Jon says with amusement in his voice, as he walks up to us.

"Magnus actually gave me an idea that could help pick things up, coupons for discounted oil changes," Alec says simply, and crosses his arms as he leans them against the suburban. "Something like... ten dollars off oil change with coupon."

"I like that idea," I say with certainty. "What do you think?" I ask curiously as I look over at Jon, and Bat who is now walking up behind him.

"I think it's a great idea," Bat says excitedly. "It works for everybody that owns a vehicle, big rigs and all."

"Could even do.. ten or fifteen dollars off alignments, too." Jon says suggestively.

"Another good idea!" Alec says enthusiastically. "Does that mean we are all in agreement?" He asks sounding hopeful.

We all look at each other and nod.

"I guess, that's settled then," Bat says confidently.

"Yeah. I'll talk to Clary, when we get home, and see if she can do us up some coupons on her computer." I say decisively. "If y'all come up with any more ideas, let me know."

"Oh, by the way, Jia's Kia is ready to go." Jon states.

"Looky there, Jonny, you're a poet and didn't even know it." Bat says jokingly as we all laugh.

"Yeah, I have my moments." Jon says proudly as he straightens up and brushes his shoulder off.

"Now don't go getting a big head on us." Alec says teasingly as he takes a step back from the suburban.

"You're just jealous that you didn't come up with it first." Jon says, joking back.

Alec playfully rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he says with a smile, as he waves his left hand dismissively with each 'yeah' he says. "Okay, I'm gonna go let Mrs. Penhallow and Mr. Starkweather know their vehicles are ready for them." He informs us, getting serious and back to business. He turns around and heads back to the lobby.

"Well, looks like our work is done here for the day," Bat says with certainty. He slaps the fender, gently. "Since you're basically at a stand still with this beast."

"Yeah, it looks that way." I say simply.

"I suppose we should start cleaning everything up then." Jon chimes in.

The three of us start cleaning up the tools, and our work stations.

"So, how's Clary and Izzy doing?" Bat asks curiously. "I sure have missed seeing Clary around here today."

I sigh with a small smile. I'm glad I'm not the only one that's been missing her around here. About a month ago, Izzy called us, completely frantic, because she had come home from school and found Clary passed out on the kitchen floor, and since nobody else is at home during the week due to school and work, we gave her an office up here. None of us wanted her to be home alone, especially in case something were to happen, _again_. But she is still able to do her school work, and work on the few odd web design jobs that she's been getting since ours was released. She even likes to help us out, by running the office. However this week, since it's Thanksgiving break for Izzy, Magnus, and Todd, she won't really be up here much, if at all. Mainly it's due to the fact that, _once again_ , I got blackmailed into wearing a dreadful tux, - but at least this time, it's for our wedding that's coming up soon so I can't complain to much - so Izzy and Magnus have made her their Barbie doll, and are probably _still_ in the process of making her a dress. _Shit!_ I curse myself. I forgot that I have to be their Ken doll, this afternoon. They said that they needed to put 'the finishing touches' **-** whatever that means **-** on the tuxedo they made for me. But at least they made this one fit, comfortably. So unless I'm looking at it, I can hardly tell that I'm in a monkey suit.

"They're doing good," I reply cheerfully as I wipe grease off the wrench that I'm holding in my right hand.

"I don't know about that," Jon says skeptically, and my heart starts to race with his words.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?" Bat asks curiously, before I have the chance to ask anything. It's almost as if he could read my mind.

"Well.." Jon says with no emotion at all and then pauses. "Clary might have Izzy and Magnus hanging from a tree by now." He explains and then laughs. I exhale the breath that I didn't even realize I had been holding. I really wish he wouldn't do things like that.

"I bet." Bat says in amusement with a small laugh. "In all the years that I've known her, she's never been very fond of dresses."

"She never has been a fan of dresses," Alec says dramatically, from behind me and I turn around. "I need the keys to the Kia." Jon points to the car, indicating that the keys are still in it. "Bat, could you bring the rig around front for Mr. Starkweather?"

"Sure, no problem." Bat says simply.

"While we pull these around front, you two can start locking up if you want." Alec says happily as he opens the car door. He climbs in, fires it up, and backs out of the garage.

I look over at Jon, he's looking at me with confusion and his eyebrows furrowed together. I shrug my shoulders.

"Well, you heard the man. Let's lock up shop." I say eagerly as I start to make my way towards the closest bay door.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he says just as eagerly.

We start pulling down the doors, locking them as we go. We walk through the shop and into the lobby, where we find Bat and Alec. They are letting down the blinds, and the computer has already been turned off. Once everything is done, and we are all washed up - well, at least as good as we could get - we all head out the door, locking it behind us. Bat heads to his truck and me, Jon, and Alec head over to Alec's, since we rode with him today; because we're all suppose to be meeting up at our house for what should be the last fitting for us guys, and from what I was informed of, to go over some sort of wedding details.

As I climb in the passenger seat I can't help but thinking that, I'm so glad that we're calling it an early day, even if it is only by a few minutes. That suburban really pissed me off, especially when I smashed the hell out of my fingers; not once, but twice. And I'm beyond ready to get home and see Clary. It makes me wonder how her day went, and how many times she ended up getting frustrated with Izzy and Magnus. Yesterday, she told me that they apparently thought she was the pin cushion, because they ended up poking her at least a dozen times. I laugh to myself as I remember what she said next, which was that if they did that shit again today, she was just going to get married in her bra and panties. I wouldn't mind that, but everybody else might. The memory makes me think of how much I love my crazy, human pin cushion! She _definitely_ knows how to keep life interesting, and me on my toes. I sigh, inwardly, and mentally shake my head with a smile, at the thought of...

 _What she could possibly come up with next._

* * *

 **Jonathan**

"Hey, Alec." Jace says out of nowhere, getting mine and Alec's attention. He's looking to his left at Alec, who is behind the wheel, driving. "Do you mind if we make a quick stop at the store?"

"No problem," Alec says simply. "Which store?"

"Publix, or any grocery store will do." Jace responds.

"What do you need from the store?" I ask curiously, from the back seat.

"I want to get the stuff to make some sweet and sour chicken for dinner tonight." Jace replies nonchalantly. "I've got a strong want for that, and mangoes, for some reason."

Alec laughs. "I thought the girls were suppose to be the ones craving things, not you."

"It's sympathy cravings," Jace jokes back.

"At least it isn't anything weird like, pickles and peanut butter." I chime in, as Alec pulls into the store parking lot.

"That's gross," Jace says with disgust as Alec asks, "Have you been craving that?" suspiciously but sounding grossed out, all at the same time.

I shake my head. "No, but I remember your mom craving that when she was pregnant with Max."

"I can't believe you remembered that," Alec says in laughter. "I had completely forgot all about that." He admits as he pulls into a parking spot and then kills the engine.

I scoff. "You would. But remember, _I was the one_ that got up enough guts to try it." I say dramatically.

"You actually tried it?" Jace asks in disbelief, as we all start climbing out of the truck's cab.

"Yep." I say proudly and popping the p, as the three of us begin to make our way to the store. I make a gagging noise, remembering the taste. "It was horrible, and I'll _never_ try it again," I say with certainty, and Jace and Alec both laugh.

"I wouldn't have tried it, in the first place," Jace states matter-of-factly. "Yecch."

"Yeah, what did make you try it anyway?" Alec asks curiously.

"I was dared." I say with a grumble.

"By who?" Jace asks skeptically, as we walk through the sliding doors.

I look over to my right, at him, with my eyebrows raised. "Do you really need to ask that question?"

"You mean to tell me, that Clary dared you to eat that nasty crap." Jace says instead of asking, with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Mmm, hmm. Her and Izzy both did." I say sarcastically. Him and Alec laugh, again.

"What did you get out of the whole ordeal?" Alec asks in laughter.

"Bragging rights," I say gloating. I then decide to fill them in a little more, "They tried it too, ya know."

"No they didn't," Jace says, his voice filled with doubt.

I simply nod, yes, as we reach the meat department.

"I remember that now," Alec says, and it's obvious that it has just dawned on him, that he was there when it happened. "They tried to get me to try it, too."

Jace opens his mouth to say something as he reaches for a package of chicken, and I'm sure that I know what it is that is about to come out of his mouth.

"No, he didn't try it." I tell him, before he has the chance to get it out.

Jace shrugs. "Well, you and the girls had issues. There's no way in _hell_ , that I would ever even _bother_ to try something like that."

"What do you mean had? They still do." Alec says jokingly as we head for the produce section of the store.

"Just think, in less than a weeks time, you'll be married to the one with the biggest issues out of all of us." I say teasingly.

"Yeah," Jace says with a happy sigh. "But isn't it great?!" He asks enthusiastically, and I can feel him smiling.

"If you say so. I've lived with her my whole life, and let me tell ya, it's no walk in the park." I say, joking around. We both know, even though I know better than anybody, that living with Clary really is anything _but_ a bad thing.

I can still remember when our parents first told me they were going to have another baby, that I did _not_ like the idea. I was happy with being an only child. After all, I had Alec, and he only lived right across the street. Then when they told me she was a girl, I did not like _that_ at all. If I was going to have a sibling, I wanted a little brother. Because then we would at least have somebody that could play football, and get down and dirty with us; and girls were, well.. prissy. But, our dad kept trying to reassure me that she was going to be strong, and act like one of the boys. I can still hear him saying, 'Son, she's a Morgenstern, and she has your mother's blood in her too. She's going to be our princess, but she's not going to be a prissy girl either. She's going to do everything you do, and then some. _That includes,_ playing football. She's going to be a firecracker. She's going to fight for you, and probably with you at times, but that's what family does. And son, she _is_ our family.' Then when they brought her home from the hospital, I remember thinking that 'this was never going to work.' But as we started to get older, I realized that I was _very wrong_ , and he was right.

"You better not let her hear you say that," Alec warns, pulling me out of my reverie, just as we reach produce.

"Yeah, or she'll make you eat those words," Jace says assuredly with a small laugh.

"She'd have to catch me first," I say confidently.

"It wouldn't be hard, you do live under the same roof." Alec points out.

"And you'd have to sleep eventually." Jace adds.

 _Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me_

My phone goes off, interrupting our conversation. It's Izzy's ringtone. So I quickly pull my phone out of it's clip, and read the message.

 **Tell Alec to stop at the store on y'alls way in and pick up some more saltines and ice cream. -Iz**

"Are you ever going to change that ringtone?" Alec asks curiously with a laugh, as I read the message.

"Nope." I say popping the p.

"Why not?" Jace asks simply.

 **What kind of ice cream? -Jon**

I shrug my shoulders, slightly. "I figured I'd let her do that, since she was the one that set it to that in the first place." I explain, looking back up at him and Alec.

"Yeah, but, she set that as her ringtone, when we were all in school." Jace says teasingly, while shaking his head slowly with a small smile on his face. He pulls out his phone, and I assume he's texting Clary.

"I know. Mine is still set as Big Poppa on hers." I say proudly with a big shit eating grin, as Jace and Alec begin to pick through the bell peppers. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get crackers and ice cream." I turn around and start to walk off, leaving the two to continue picking out bell peppers.

"Well, go on with your bad self." Alec calls out, teasingly, just as my phone goes off, again.

 **Neapolitan -Iz**

 **Alright, I got ya covered. ;) -Jon**

As I walk down the frozen aisle, that has ice cream down both sides, I begin to wonder if this is what it was like for my dad and Robert, when my mom and Maryse were pregnant with me and Alec. I mean, it's not a bad thing by far, at least not yet, but I can vaguely remember our moms becoming somewhat miserable while they were pregnant with Clary and Izzy. And I honestly, don't know what to expect. I really wish my dad was still alive. I could ask him about his personal experience, since he's been through this twice. _I really miss his advice_. I sigh at the thought. Lord knows...

 _How much I could use it right now._

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed! Mwah!**

 **Let me know what you think in the reviews. I can't wait to hear, or technically read, what you have to say.**

 **Updates will not be everyday, like the other two stories were. Life is still happening, and just keeps getting crazier, so I will post as often as I can. So, p** ** _lease remember to follow, if you want to be notified when there's an update! Thanks!_**


	2. How Much (Part 2)

**Isabelle**

"Is that the guys I hear?" I ask a little worried as I lean to my right, straining to hear if there are any voices.

"Sounds like it to me," Clary says sounding relieved. And I may not be able to see her face, but I'm sure she's smiling.

"Well then, hurry up and get the dress off." Magnus says quickly with a little panic in his voice, as he stands up in front of Clary.

He's been working on the front part of the sequins pattern, that we - meaning me and him - have decided to add to it, and I've been working on the side of it. Of course we didn't decide on that part until after we were finally able to get her to agree on wearing a dress. That alone took some hard work to accomplish, because as usual she was being stubborn. We had been constantly asking her to let us do her dress for weeks, even though she was adamant about wearing pants and a cute top. But we remained persistent. We argued that it was a special occasion. We argued that it wasn't going to hurt her to wear a dress, for one day. We argued that since she wanted simple, that we'd make the dress simple; which in my opinion, it still is. I even pulled the, 'do it for me' card. None of it worked. So I decided that enough was enough and called in reinforcements. And just like I thought, Jon came through; he got Jace to wear the tux, which gave us just the ammo we needed to get her in a dress.

All of it reminded me of high school, when I tried and tried to get her to wear a dress, and when she refused continuously I went to Jocelyn. Jocelyn had been under the impression that Clary was wearing a dress to prom and had already picked the one she was going to wear out, until I told her differently. I wonder if Clary knows that, _that_ is why her mom asked to see her in the dress she was going to wear. Because I never told her about my talk with Jocelyn.

"Why?" She asks with uncertainty and suspicion.

"Because, it's suppose to be bad luck for the groom to see you in it before your wedding." I say assuredly as I step behind her and start unzipping the dress.

"Oh, that's just a bunch of bull shit." She says with certainty, dismissing the old superstition. She steps down from the platform, onto the floor, and starts pulling the shoulder straps down her arms. "And there's never been any proof of that being true, so I don't believe in it one bit."

"That was what my mother said she thought, too. Until my father seen her in her dress and he went from an angel to a demon." Magnus says sounding very serious. I can't remember ever hearing him talk this way, and he never _ever_ talks about his parents. He slaps her on her butt. "Now, get to the bathroom before they walk in and catch you in it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She says as she begins to make her way towards the bathroom. "You act like he isn't going to see me in it before then. You know, on our way _there_."

"Oh, no he won't." I say matter-of-factly, right as she shuts the door behind her.

"And why won't he?" She asks suspiciously, from the other side of the door.

"You won't be getting dressed until _after_ we get there." I reply with certainty.

"UGH!" She groans, loudly. "You know, I love you both, but you're killing me."

"Why do you say that?" Magnus asks in amusement with a low laugh.

She walks out the bathroom door with her dress draped over her left arm. "You keep changing everything on me. Is there anything _else_ being changed that I should know about?" She asks dramatically as she comes to a stop, about a foot in front of us.

"We'll discuss that later," Magnus says nonchalantly. She looks between the two of us, and if looks could kill, we would have just took our last breaths. "We want you both there for it, before we say anything."

"I don't think I like the sound of that," She says distrustingly with her eyes narrowed on us and putting her right hand on her hip. She raises an eyebrow. "What did you two do now? Write our vows for us?"

I look at Magnus and he looks at me, trying to hide the smile that's forming on his face.

"Don't even think about it!" She says sternly as she thrusts the dress out at us. "Or we'll just elope."

"No you won't." I say skeptically as Magnus says, "You wouldn't?" in disbelief.

"Oh, yes we will. Or we'll just continue to live together for the rest of our lives." She says with strong conviction and I roll my eyes, dramatically, at her.

I don't know if it's just because me and her are so close that I can see it or if the others can see it too, but Clary has become more and more serious lately; and I'm not really sure why. I don't know if it has to do with her being pregnant and all those crazy hormones that seem to come along with it, or if it's because the big day is approaching for her. Or if it's because of everything going on this week. Or if it's even a combination of two of those things or maybe even a combination of all of it. Then again, it could be something else altogether. I mean, she has always been a serious person when it comes down to things that truly matter to her, however, this is even much more than usual for her. Nowadays, it seems like she stays high strung _all the time_. And I'm really worried about her. I don't know...

 _How much more her body and the baby can take._

* * *

 **Alec**

"I'm going to go check on Clary and them." Jace informs me and Jon, as he sets the grocery bags he carried in, on the counter top of the island. He then heads for the stairwell. "I'll be back."

"Do you ever think that he's going to stop worrying so much?" I ask Jon curiously, as Jace disappears from our view.

"This is Jace you're talking about, when it comes to Clary, _this_ baby, and.." Jon pauses quickly, as if he's already said to much. A sad look appears on his face, and after a short moment he sighs and then shakes his head slightly. "No, don't count on it ever happening," he says with certainty, and I can hear the sadness in his voice that he's obviously trying to cover up.

I've known Jon since we were babies, so I know when he's keeping something from me, and there is _definitely_ something that he's trying to hide. He's been doing that quite often here lately. One minute everything is fine and _our_ normal, and then all of a sudden he becomes vague and has to think about what he's going to say before he says it. In our lifetime of friendship, he has only acted like this a couple of other times.

There was the time that he spent the night and had overheard my mom and dad talking about getting divorced. For nearly a month, I could tell that something was bothering him, but he wouldn't tell me what. Then one night we decided to go camping and had snuck out with a bottle of his mom's wine, and a bottle of my mom's as well. We went to our favorite camping spot, where we knew nobody would bother us, and preceded to get drunk. When we were both tipsy and feeling no pain, that was when he finally told me what was wrong.

There was also the time, when me and Jon were sophomores, that him and Clary had beat the mess out of some kids in the lunchroom. We were all sitting at our usual table, talking, which was nothing new for us. Jace got up to toss his and Clary's trash away, then out of nowhere Clary and Jon stood up. They walked over to the table behind them, and without saying a single word to each other, or anybody else, just started wailing on two of the guys. By the time their two friends jumped in it was to late, Clary and Jon had already turned on them. The rest of our gang didn't even have a chance to jump in to help them before they had all four guys on the ground, bleeding, and teachers were trying to pull them off of the guys. He wouldn't tell me what any of it was about, and Clary would only tell me 'Justice.' when I'd ask her. A week later, when they were allowed back at school, Bat was the one that ended up causing it to slip out. He had asked them if they were going to whip everybody that talked mess about their friends, and Clary told him, 'Damn straight! You don't talk shit about Alec, _especially_ when it's behind his back, and get away with it.'

So I know there's a pattern to it, I just wish that-

"Whatever you do, DON'T GO UPSTAIRS!" Jace says seriously, breaking me from my thoughts, as he suddenly burst into the kitchen.

"Why?" I ask suspiciously as Jon asks, "What's wrong?" worriedly.

"I don't know what's going on exactly, but Clary doesn't sound to happy about something." Jace explains. He looks behind him and then back to us. "So I decided to come back down here where it's safer, and start dinner."

Jon laughs. "Do you mean to tell me you're scared of her?"

Jace grabs the bags off the counter. "No," he says simply, while heading towards the kitchen sink. "I just don't want to get in the middle of it."

"Sure, that's the reason." Jon teases. He claps his hands together, and then rubs them back and forth. "Well, I'm going to go jump in the shower." He looks at me with a sly smile. "Some of us had to get ourselves dirty today."

"See this?" I ask with a smirk as I hold my right hand up with my thumb and pointer rubbing against each other. "It's the worlds smallest violin playing-"

"My heart bleeds for you." Jace joins me in saying.

"Forget both of y'all," Jon says good-naturedly with a chuckle. He looks over at Jace. "And I don't know why you're on his side, out of all the jobs that came in today, he saddled you with the greasiest and dirtiest one."

"That's because he wanted the job done right," Jace jokes back with him, while standing at the sink with the water running.

I laugh at the two of them, and Jon looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure he would of traded you if you had asked."

"We should've given it to you, and one of us could've went and worked the front." Jon says jokingly.

"Should've, would've, could've, but didn't." I tease, continuing our friendly bantering.

Jon rolls his eyes, playfully. "I'm going to go take my shower now."

"Sounds to me like somebody just couldn't come up with another comeback." Jace says teasingly with a chuckle.

"Oh bite me, Jace." Jon says dramatically with his face scrunched up. He turns around and stomps off dramatically, like a child would when they lose at a game, causing me and Jace to laugh at him while he heads up the stairs.

I turn to look at Jace, who is standing at the stove now. "Do you want some help?"

"That'd be great," Jace says enthusiastically over his shoulder. He motions towards the sink with his head, "You can start cutting up the peppers if you want."

"You know, if you want to go take a shower, I'll get dinner started for you." I tell him reassuringly as I pull the cutting board out of the cabinet and grab a knife out of it's block.

"I appreciate the offer, I really do, and I might take you up on that, but I want to make sure the coast is clear before I go back up there." He say nonchalantly.

"Alright." I say simply, as I begin cleaning out a bell pepper.

I sigh inwardly and smile to myself. It's times like this that make me remember just exactly how much I've truly been blessed with. I mean, I have a great family that's always loving and supportive of me; and that includes my friends, since they _are_ my family too. I've got a great boyfriend, correction, fiancé, and we will be married next month. I'm going to be an uncle before long, which means I'm going to have not one but two little rugrats to spoil, and I can't wait until then. My best friend, that's like my brother, is going to be marrying my sister in two weeks; and even though he is trying to protect me from something, I still love him, and can't wait for them to be married and him to become by brother-in-law. Jace and Clary are getting married, this week, and I'm apart of that. Bat's mom has decided to just give us the shop, since he is one fourth owner now, which also means that he's not moving away. The business is off to somewhat of a slow start, but I can't complain, because business is still good. I grin as I think...

 _My life is great right now!_

* * *

 **Clary**

"Oh, yes we will. Or we'll just continue to live together for the rest of our lives." I say with strong conviction to Izzy and Magnus, and she dramatically rolls her eyes at me. I know I made a deal with Izzy months ago about her helping us plan our wedding, once we set a date, but the two of them have planned and done everything for our wedding as it is, and there is no way that I'm going to let them write our vows for us. I mean, seriously, that's something that no other person but the two of us can do, and in my opinion, that is them over stepping their bounds, so I have to stand my ground. I have to show them that I'm serious, and that I mean business about this; and this is the only way I know how to get my point across to them. After a short moment of Izzy and Magnus just standing there, starring at me in disbelief, as if they don't know me well enough to know that I'd say something like that, I take a deep breath.

"Alright now that, that's settled, can we go downstairs and see the guys now?" I ask through the release of my deep breath. I want out of this conversation _now_ , before I end up saying something that I don't really and truly mean.

"Yeah." Magnus says as Izzy says, "Sure."

While me and Izzy wait at the door, Magnus puts my dress in a black garment bag, that he has bedazzled with 'Bride - Clary,' and then lays it across the top of the large trunk that is filled with his and Izzy's fabrics; among other things they use in their line of work. Then the three of us begin to make our way downstairs, and I can smell something cooking. I don't know if I just didn't realize it before, or if it's the smell, but I'm hungry.

When we get to the kitchen, I see Jace at the stove, and Alec is standing a few feet away at the island; Jace is stirring something, and Alec is cutting up pineapple and has cut up bell peppers off to the side. _How did I get so lucky?_ I ask myself with a smile. Neither one of them has, or even had, to do this. I mean, they've worked all day so I could've cooked, or we could have even done take out.

"Mmm.. Mmm.." Magnus hums loudly as we enter the room, causing Alec to look up and over at us.

"Something sure smells good." I say as I break away from Magnus and Izzy, and start to make my way over to the stove.

"I agree. So, what are you two making anyway?" Izzy asks intriguingly.

"Sweet and sour chicken." Jace and Alec answer, in unison.

I wrap my arms around Jace's waist, locking my fingers together on his right hip. "How did y'all know?"

He turns his head, and gives me a quick peck on the lips. "Know what?"

"Me and Izzy were making Magnus hungry earlier today when we kept talking about how much we could really go for some sweet and sour chicken." I explain with a small smile.

"It was funny, poor Magnus was basically drooling all over himself as we talked about it." Izzy says with amusement and a chuckle. "So how did y'all know? And where's Jonny?"

"This was all Jace's idea, he was craving it." Alec says dramatically with a small laugh. "And Jon's upstairs taking a shower."

"I didn't say I was craving it." Jace says, pointing the wooden spoon that he's been using at Alec, causing me to lean back slightly so that I don't get caught with it as he turns around. "I _said,_ I had a strong want for it."

"Same difference." I point out in Alec's defense, while joining in on the friendly banter.

"No, it's not." Jace says sounding slightly defensive.

"Yes, it is." I say with a laugh, and Jace shakes his head no.

"Yeah, it is." Magnus chimes in, his voice filled with amusement, from behind me.

"Not today." Jace says dramatically.

"Yes today," I say mischievously, pulling my arms away from him. I turn and head to the island. "And every other day too."

"Not, uh." Jace grumbles, and I can hear his foot stomp on the tile flooring.

"Technically, it is, Jace." Izzy says eloquently, trying to hold back her amusement but a smile still manages to break through.

"Y'all are just, are just..." Jace growls, becoming frustrated that he can't think of the word he wants to use. He turns to look at me, Izzy, Alec, and Magnus; we are all standing around the island. "Y'all just quit picking on me."

I look at Izzy and smile, and she returns the smile with one of her own. We both turn to look at Jace, the both of us still smiling.

"Nevv-eerrrr." The two of us say in unison.

"Then you don't get none of my sweet and sour chicken," he says as if he was a kid again, and turns his nose up in the air as he turns his head to his right. And I can see that he's trying not to smile. "So there."

"Oh, whatever." Jon's voice rings through the kitchen, full of amusement. I look over at the entrance way by the stairs, and see him walking towards us with wet hair. "There's no way that you're going to deprive these two of food. Especially, when you know that they can both take you." He laughs as he comes to a stop between me and Izzy, and wraps an arm around each of our waist. "Pregnant or not," he adds, and then places a kiss on top of each of our heads.

I look over at Jace, who's looking over at us again, and stick my tongue out at him. "So nah!"

"I wouldn't if I were you." Alec says with a laugh, just as Jace opens his mouth to say something. "Don't you know better by now? You never win."

"Yeah, but I'll never succumb to their _witchy_ ways." Jace retorts mischievously, with his eyes narrowed at me and Izzy.

"I wouldn't say that," Magnus chimes in with a laugh. "You did propose to one of them after all."

"It was all a spell." Jace says with a smile, so I know he's joking. But.. he just opened his mouth and inserted his foot.

"Fine then." I say calmly, without missing a beat. "Here's your ring," I say reaching for my left finger, where the teardrop peridot ring rest.

Jace rushes over to me, in two big steps, and grabs my hands. "Oh no, you don't. That ring isn't coming off until the twenty seventh."

"But it was all a spell, remember?" I tease with my right eyebrow raised, and a smirk.

"Ha, ha. That's not funny." He says very seriously. "You know I was just kidding."

I roll my eyes at him playfully while shaking my head slightly. "So was I."

"You gotta admit, you did walk yourself right into that one though, Jace." Izzy points out. She sniffs a couple of times. "Is something burning?"

"No, you're not cooking alone." Alec says teasingly with a low chuckle, and everybody laughs as Izzy scowls at him. We all know better than to leave her alone in the kitchen to cook anything, even if it's just to stir something while you're gone from the room. I mean, she burns water for crying out loud. But if you're in the kitchen with her, she's fine. Of course, you usually have to remind her to stir something; so we usually just have her help get the prepping done, and getting ingredients for us. She excels in being awesome company, and help, in the kitchen.

"Wait, now I smell it too." Magnus says suddenly, interrupting everyone's laughter.

"Told ya!" Izzy exclaims, her sour face now beaming with pride.

"My chicken!" Jace yells, letting go of my hands and we all chuckle at him. He rushes back to the stove, removes the pan from the burner, and starts stirring like a mad man. "Whew! It's all good."

"Sure it is." Jon says jokingly as he leans up on his tip toes. "I can see blacken chicken from here."

"No, you don't." Jace says with a laugh. "Besides, it'd be your fault if it was."

"How you figure that?" Jon asks incredulously, removing his arms from me and Izzy, and crossing them in front of his chest.

"You started the distraction." Jace explains.

"Oh whatever." Jon says simply.

"It was baby brain farts." Alec chimes in humorously, and I shake my head slightly at him. The things he comes up with.

"Yeah!" Magnus says enthusiastically as he claps his hands together. "I like that!"

I reach behind Jon, and poke Izzy's right arm. She looks at me and I nod towards the living room. She shakes her head yes, and the two of us sneak off together; leaving the guys in the kitchen, joking and playfully bickering around with each other.

Once in the living room, we both plop down on the couch, side by side, and I realize that I forgot to grab the remote. I lean forward, grab it off the coffee table, and lean back.

I look over at Izzy. "I'm sorry if I seemed bitchy earlier." I say sincerely. She looks over at me and locks eyes with me. "I just wanted to get my point across and-"

"It's alright, Clare-Bear. You don't have to explain yourself to me, you never have too." She says with certainty, interrupting me. She sighs and looks down. "I'm just worried about you is all. You seem so high strung all the time, and I'm worried that it's going to cause problems for you and the baby."

"Hey," I say softly and slide my hand under her chin. I lift her face up and lock my eyes with hers. "I'm fine and the baby's fine. _We_ are both fine." I say reassuringly.

"How do you know?" Izzy asks curiously with her eyebrows furrowing together.

"I just do, okay. And I'll prove it to you when we go to the doctors." I tell her confidentially. "Alright?"

She takes a deep breath. ""Alright."

"So you're good now?" I ask skeptically. I know her better than that, she's going to worry no matter what I say. But, I'm the same way with her. However, I also know that if she believes me, she'll have some piece of mind; at least until I can give her cold hard proof.

A small smile appears on her face. "I'm good. Now, let's watch the tube until dinners done."

We snuggle up together on the couch, and I turn on the television. I begin flipping through the guide, trying to find something worth watching. I don't know why we have so many channels, when over half of them suck.

KNOCK, KNOCK. DING, DONG.

"Come in!" Me and Izzy holler, simultaneously, with chuckles.

"What's up, pregos?" Maia asks, as her and Bat make their way through the front door.

"Not much." I reply as Izzy says, "Watching the boob tube."

"So is the grub done yet?" Bat asks, as him and Maia make their way to the couch.

"No." Izzy says simply.

"The guys are in the kitchen, if you want to go in there." I tell them.

Maia sits down on the couch, to my left. "I think I'll stay in here where I _know_ , it's safe." She says jokingly with a smile.

"Good idea," Izzy says with a laugh.

"Bat?" I ask curiously, as he walks in front of me and Izzy with a sly smile, and stops suddenly.

"Nope. I think I'm gonna hang out with y'all." He replies, as he starts squishing his way in-between me and Izzy. "I told Jon and Jace that you two made these babies without their help," he says with a laugh, causing me, Izzy, and Maia to laugh as well.

"What's that suppose to mean exactly?" Izzy asks in laughter.

"That you impregnated Clary, and she impregnated you, _duh_." He says dramatically, and then looks over his shoulder. "So, I got to bust you two apart before you get caught."

"Or you're just as bad as them." I say with certainty as I playfully elbow him in the gut, and he acts like I just punched him.

"You know what that means, don't you, Bat?" Maia asks nonchalantly. He leans forwards and looks over at her with confusion clearly written all over his face. "That means males are unnecessary now."

Me and Izzy bust out laughing, loudly.

"You got told." Izzy says as I can only get out, "Ouch."

"Now go, and leave us females," Maia says commanding him playfully, as she points towards the kitchen.

"Uh." He huffs and stands up, quickly. "Fine, be that way then. I didn't really want to hang out with y'all anyway."

"Yeah," I start. "Yeah," Izzy joins me, "Yeah." Maia joins us. Then the three of us laugh some more as he walks off, pouting.

Since Bat became a partner with the guys at the shop, we've been seeing more and more of him, and Maia, lately. Which has been great! So of course, our bond with Maia has gotten stronger, and these are the type of things the three of us have been able to do to the guys more often. Mainly we do it, just to keep them on their toes. We have to remind them, exactly.. how much strength we women have, especially since we're outnumbered. And Maia's even going to teach us infant c.p.r. before the babies get here. Not saying that we need it, but it would be nice to know and not need it, then it would be to need it and not know it.

Suddenly, I snicker to myself as I realize that I had completely forgotten that the two are going to be joining us for dinner again, tonight. Needless to say, this is going to be...

 _An interesting night, to say the least._

* * *

 ** _I hope you have enjoyed this installment!_**

 ** _Let me know what you think with a review! MWAH!_**

 ** _I'm not sure when the next update will be, but I know it will be soon!_**

 ** _Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! Much Love!_**


	3. Time For A Little Payback

**Dirty Little Secret - The All-American Rejects**

* * *

 **Jonathan**

Shortly after Todd arrived, dinner was done. We all sat down at the dining room table and ate the sweet and sour chicken that Jace, with some help from Alec, had made; it was delicious and I have to admit, that it really did hit the spot. While we all enjoyed it, we talked about how everybody's day went.

I kind of feel sorry for the table, seeing as how we hardly ever used it anymore, that is until more recently. Now it seems like it's being used all the time, for one thing or another. Whether it be for the planning of one of the three weddings coming up, or these dinners that we've been doing a lot more often as it gets closer to Clary and Jace's wedding. We've been doing this, at least two or three times a week, for the past three weeks.

When everyone was finished, Magnus said it was time to get down to business. So all of us guys - excluding Magnus, for the more obvious reasons, and since his is already completely done - went and got dressed in our tuxedos for any last minute alterations, that may or may not be needed; even though only two of us can be worked on at a time. Then we all met up in the living room, instead of the room that has been turned into a fashion studio for Izzy and Magnus. Due to the fact that the living room fits all of us more comfortably. Of course, I was all for it, since it has real furniture for everyone to relax on while we wait our turn, instead of the hard bench they have in there. Before me and Jace even had a chance to sit down, we were grabbed by the arms and made to stand in front of the coffee table. Izzy and Magnus insisted that ours be worked on first, - even though Alec was already sitting there in his , ready to go - since Jace is the groom and I'm the one walking Clary down the aisle.

As the two of them continue to work on mine, and now Alec's, Izzy has started giving us guys an ear full.

"I'm telling y'all, you need to watch how much you eat," she says with a long exasperated sigh. "You've eaten so much, that y'all now have fat guts, and that's messing with our measurements, which _means,_ it's also messing with our alterations."

"Well then, at least they'll still fit comfortably after the dinner and wedding cake, not to mention Thanksgiving dinner." I point out to her. Izzy's eyes go wide with horror as everyone but her, laughs.

"Oh my God, I completely forgot about Thanksgiving! We're going to have, to have another last fitting the-" She begins in a rush, and what sounds like panic in her tone.

"Chill out, Iz." Clary says through her laughter, interrupting Izzy.

"Yeah, it will-" Jace begins, still laughing, as Izzy spins on her heels, looking in his general direction.

"Don't say it will be alright, or that it will be okay, because it won't! I didn't plan for this and we only have-" She begins retorting, with her eyes narrowed at him.

"Isabelle Sophia Lightwood," Clary says as she stands up from where she was sitting, next to Jace on the couch, interrupting Izzy again, and looking determined. Izzy freezes in place and slowly turns her head towards Clary. "It _WILL BE_ alright."

Izzy slowly shakes her head no, "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. It always is." Clary says sounding sure of it. "Now, you need to calm down. Remember our earlier conversation? Well, that works both ways."

Izzy takes a slow deep breath, and releases it just as slowly. "Okay."

And just like that, all is back to normal. I don't know how these two do it, or even what it is about them, but they have always seemed to have this affect on each other; or at least they do as long as there isn't a fight that involves someone Clary cares about. That's when Clary's temper gets the best of her, and she becomes the Hulk - so to speak - and there's no reasoning with her then. But I can't say to much, because I'm the same way. It has to be that Morgenstern blood coursing through our veins. _Oh heaven help me_ , I think to myself as a realization dawns on me...

 _Our kids._

* * *

 **Jace**

"So we know that Izzy's the Maid of Honor, and I'm a brides maid." Maia says as we're all leaned against the dining room table, looking at the diagram that Clary is drawing up of our wedding ceremony as we go. Maia points to the space next to where she'll be standing, "But, that still leaves one spot short."

Clary shrugs. "So."

"So?" Izzy asks incredulously. "You can't have an uneven number."

"Sure I can. Maia, _or you_ , will just have to walk out looking like a pimp." Clary says, and it's obvious that she's amused by her own solution to the problem.

"What about cousin Lydia?" Jon asks, before Izzy or Maia can say anything.

"No way!" Clary replies with her voice raising slightly. Jon gives her a puzzled look. "She has always thought she was better than us, so why would I include her? And if it hadn't been for mom inviting her, she wouldn't even be coming." Izzy reaches over with her right hand, and rest it on top of Clary's left hand. Clary sighs. "Besides, I want my family _here,_ " she motions around the table with the pencil she's holding in her right hand, "to be apart of the most important parts, before anybody else is given a possible part."

"I'll do it!" Magnus' voice chimes in, enthusiastically.

I look at him in confusion with my eyes furrowed together. "Do what?"

He rolls his eyes dramatically. "I'll be Clary's other brides maid."

"Are you serious?" Clary asks, sounding hopeful.

"Yes, Biscuit. I'm serious." He chuckles. "Jace has three on his end, so you should too."

"What changed your mind?" I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me. He has told us for weeks now, that all he wanted to do is help her get ready and then join the rest of the guest, because he just wants to see the two of us shine.

"Her little speech," he replies with a smile, as he points at Clary. "It was touching."

I laugh. "It's those witchy ways, I was talking about earlier."

Bat, Maia, and Todd look at me with puzzled expressions, and I shrug just as Clary playfully hits me in the chest.

"You better watch it," she says looking over at me and giving me the stink eye. She looks over to Magnus. "You're not going to change your mind again, are you?"

"Not in this lifetime." Magnus grins. "But.."

"Uh, oh," Bat says under his breath.

"I'm not, I repeat, _not_ , wearing a dress." Magnus informs us with his eyebrows raised.

"Of course not, and I wouldn't ask you to." Clary says with certainty and reassurance.

"You have to admit, that would be a sight to see though." Bat chimes in with a chuckle.

Magnus laughs dryly. "No, I'm wearing my tux, and that's final. Although, I would look fab-u-lous, since I do in everything else I wear."

"Okay, so..." Clary says, then pauses, and I know that she's about to change the subject. "That has Todd as photographer and videographer. Izzy, Maia, and Magnus on my side, and Jonny, Alec, and Bat on Jace's side. Is there anybody, or anything, I'm forgetting?"

"Flower girl and ring bearer," Todd answers helpfully.

"We don't know any little people, though." I explain.

"There's Max, he could be ring bearer." Alec suggest.

"He's a teenager now, so I don't think he's going to want to do it." I say skeptically. Why on earth would a teenager want to do something, that usually seems to be done by a toddler?.

Izzy scoffs, playfully. "Well, you'll never know until you ask." She clicks her tongue. "Now will ya?" She says while moving her head from side to side.

I chuckle. "I suppose you're right. But what makes you think that he might say yes?"

"Have you forgotten how much that boy idolizes you?" Alec asks with a raised eyebrow, and a half smile.

"Or how he's had a crush on Clary ever since he was little?" Jon adds in with a laugh.

"Well, _that_ doesn't sound to reassuring. He might try to run away with the bride." Bat chimes in, teasingly.

"NOOO!" I cry out in mock despair, as if it has already happened, causing everyone to laugh. I narrow my eyes at them, all in good fun. "He better not try stealing my woman."

"I was his woman first," Clary teases and then laughs. "So technically, you stole me from him."

"You better watch your back, Jace." Maia says with a laugh.

"Yeah, it sounds to me like he just might." Magnus adds in, laughing.

"Bad blood, just bad blood." Todd says chuckling.

"Oh, you have no idea." I say jokingly with a smirk, while raising my eyebrows. I laugh at the memory that pops into my head. "Our first kiss, he caught us and kicked me in the shin."

"How old were y'all?" Todd asks through his laughter.

"It was between seventh and eighth grade, so I was.." I pause, trying to remember how old I was at the time.

"You were thirteen." Clary says with certainty, helping me out.

"That means, you were.." Magnus says sounding slightly shocked before he stops.

"Twelve." Clary says simply, finishing his sentence for him.

"I didn't even know that." Jon says, his tone sounding like a mix between anger and disbelief. "That was to young."

"Oh shut up, Jonny. I was almost thirteen, and it's not like _somebody_ else I know." Clary says sounding very mysterious, and it causes me to become very intrigued. I don't guess that I know this story.

"What are you talking about?" Jon asks, and it's clear to see by his expression that he is confused.

"Spin the bottle. Slumber party." She replies vaguely.

"Clarissa!" Izzy says a little to loudly. Her and Clary stare at each other for a short moment as we all sit in silence, and then Izzy shakes her head very slightly. If I hadn't been watching the two so closely, I probably would have missed it.

"Oh, your talking about me and Izzy! When she was eleven and I was twelve!" Jon exclaims, as it apparently dawns on him what Clary is talking about.

"Jonathan!" Izzy shouts.

"What?" He asks confusedly. "Alec already knows." He looks to Alec, who is sitting to Jon's left with a smirk on his face, "Don't you?"

Alec laughs as he shakes his head yes. "Just because I went downstairs to get a drink, doesn't mean that I didn't know the same night that it happened."

Izzy throws her hands up in the air. "And guys say _we_ talk to much."

Everybody laughs again, and mine is cut short by my curiosity.

"So, who'd you kiss that night?" I ask Clary.

"Nobody!" Izzy, Jon, and Alec say simultaneously.

"Really?" I ask, feeling a little relieved, as Magnus curiously asks, "Did the bottle just not land on you?"

Clary was my first kiss and she told me I was hers, but I was worried for a minute there that maybe she just didn't think that, that one counted.

"Yes really, and I didn't play. I was to worried it would land on Jonny." Clary explains, and then acts like she's gagging. "Besides, it was his brilliant idea anyway."

"Yeah, he wanted to see how many girls he could get to kiss him that night." Izzy says jokingly.

"No, he just wanted to kiss _you,_ and it was the only thing he could think of to give him that chance." Alec states matter-of-factly, causing everybody to chuckle.

"Alexander!" Jon exclaims, sounding shocked.

"What?" Alec asks in laughter. "There isn't any point in hiding it now, now is there?"

"You knew?" Maia asks in disbelief, before Jon can answer Alec.

"Yep." Alec answers, popping the p.

"Oh, this is good." Clary says laughing.

 _My dirty little secret_

Clary starts singing.

 _Dirty little secret_

I join in with her, as does Magnus, Todd, Bat, and Maia.

 _Dirty little secret_

Izzy, Alec, and Jon start laughing at the three of us.

"Alright ring leader, Clary." Izzy says through her laughter with her hands on her hips. "You guys can quit now."

"Oh, come on." Clary and I say, in unison.

"Buzz killer." Bat says teasingly.

"I know right," Clary says as she pretends to be hurt that Izzy stopped us. She pushes out her bottom lip. "She likes taking all my fun away."

They all start joking around with each other, and I lean back; resting against the back of my chair as I observe them. _Is this what our lives are going to be like from now on?_ I wonder to myself. Friends over nearly every night, joining us for dinner and then picking at one another; occasionally letting a secret slip out. It's something that we wouldn't ever have to stop, even after the babies are born. I smile at them. If it is...

 _I can handle that._

* * *

 **Alec**

"I thought you and Clary wanted an outdoor wedding." Bat says to Jace after Clary, Izzy, Magnus, Maia, and Todd leave for the living room.

"We did," Jace sighs. He drags his hands down his face as he sits back in his chair. "We were going to do it here, in the backyard."

"Well, why aren't you?" I ask confused, yet curiously.

"Two reasons, Izzy and Magnus." Jace responds simply, as he rest his hands on the dining room table.

"What do they have to do with it?" Jon asks with his eyebrows furrowed together.

"They think we need to have some big, fancy type of wedding." Jace explains.

"They already have everybody getting all dressed up, so tell them it's _y'alls wedding_ , and y'all want it outside." I say ruefully.

I feel bad for him and Clary, they have always said that they wanted a simple wedding, and now it's anything but. They wanted casual wear, close friends and family, and it to be outdoors; at one point, they mentioned wanting it on the beach. But somehow that sister and man of mine, have figured out how to get them to do the exact opposite. True my wedding is going to be fancy-ish, and no doubt, Magnus will figure out how to make everything sparkle. But honestly, I never really gave any thought to what mine would be like, because it wasn't something allowed legally. However, times have changed, and yet, I still tell Magnus that it's whatever he wants as-

"It's to late for that." Jace says, interrupting my thoughts, with no emotion at all. "They have already booked the Alicante Venue, and with the wedding literally only days away, it's to late to change the locations." He takes an audible deep breath and releases it. "Besides, there are to many guest now for the backyard, and we don't have enough time to look for another place _and_ let all of them know that it's been moved."

"True." Me and Jon say in unison, as Bat says, "That's true."

"Well, at least the place has everything." Bat adds, reassuringly.

"Yeah, it has the ceremony hall, and the reception and dance hall." I add in, trying to be helpful.

"And none of us will have to cook." Jon chimes in with a grin. I look at him expectantly, with my right eyebrow raised. "Mom and Luke, hired a caterer. There's going to be steaks, chicken, and fish, along with all the fixings."

"Well Jace, at least that's some good news, right?" I ask hopeful.

"Yeah. Look guys, none of that really matters." Jace shrugs. "As long as I get to marry Clary, nothing else matters. We could get married in the court house, by the Justice of the Peace, and I'd be happy." He says decisively.

I sigh happily. I know he's telling the truth - I feel the same way about Magnus - and that fills me with joy. I mean, I know he's my cousin but, he didn't grow up with Clary as long as I have. She has been like my little sister since _forever_ , and even though her and Jace have always had this indescribable connection, - ever since the first time they met - it is still nice to have some reassurance. I have always known the two were meant to be and this, well this...

 _Just proves it._

* * *

 **Isabelle**

"You haven't been very talkative tonight." Clary points out to Todd, as me, Magnus, and Maia follow behind them into the living room.

"I know." Todd says with a sigh. "And I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Is it still Sam?" I ask hesitantly.

"No and yes." He says with a slight touch of sorrow in his tone.

"You know if you want to talk about it, you can always talk to us." Clary says reassuringly.

"I know, thanks." He shakes his head fiercely, like he is trying to clear it of something. "It's something that he said right before he left that's been bothering me."

"And what was that?" Maia asks as Clary asks, "Do I need to go stomp a mud hole in his ass?"

"No." Todd replies with a light laugh. "He said that I may be cut out for this 'city' living, but he isn't."

"Is he crazy?" Maia asks sounding shocked. "This isn't city living, if he wants to see city living, then he needs to go to some place like New York City."

"Atlanta is more city, then it is here." I say with certainty.

"Shit! Tell him to go to Vegas, if he wants to see city living! It's not city here, but it's not country either! People here are a little of both, and that is why it's the perfect place to live!" Magnus rants passionately, finally chiming in. Honestly, I had forgotten he was with us since he's been so quite.

Then something occurs to me. "Are you blaming yourself?"

He turns the knob to the front door, opens it, and steps outside; me, Clary, Magnus, and Maia following him out.

"I don't think I am." He says sounding unsure of his own words.

"Well, if you are, it's not your fault." I tell him.

"Yeah, it's _not_ your fault that he couldn't handle not living in a cow pasture." Clary adds, causing all of us to chuckle, as we reach the truck Todd drove tonight; which happens to be his aunt's.

"Is that all that's bothering you?" Maia asks concernedly.

"Well, there's that, and he was suppose to be my date to the wedding." He replies as he leans against the driver door. "I'm starting to feel like-"

"Don't you even finish that!" Me and Clary say simultaneously.

"You're not a third wheel, you're family!" Clary adds.

Todd smiles. "Thanks, I needed to hear that."

Clary leans in and gives him a hug. "You're welcome."

"I've got to get going now, I have to get up at four in the morning to help my aunt." Todd says as Clary pulls away from him. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."

We all say our goodbyes, and then watch as Todd drives down the road.

"He'll be alright." Magnus says reassuringly. "Come on, lets get back inside."

I stand there for a short moment longer before I turn to my left, Magnus and Maia are walking through the front door. I look to my right, and there stands Clary with a look that matches how I feel; the one that says 'there has got to be something I can do to help.' She looks over at me and we smile at each other. That's how I know...

 _We've got a plan!_

* * *

 **Clary**

While I'm standing at the bathroom sink, brushing my teeth, Jace walks up behind me. He wraps his left arm around my waist as he uses his right hand to pull my hair from my left shoulder over to my right, and starts slowly kissing my neck.

"Mmm.." I moan, softly, with my eyes closed. "Behave." I say around my toothbrush.

"I am," he whispers into my ear. He nibbles on my earlobe, and a shiver runs up my spine. "See?"

I pull the toothbrush out of my mouth, turn around to see him smirking, and lock eyes with him. "That's not behaving, that's being fresh."

"Are you complaining?" He asks with a smirk on his face still, and raising his eyebrows.

"No." I say with a half smile. "But can I at least finish brushing my teeth first?"

"I suppose," he replies with a dramatic sigh, while rolling his eyes playfully.

I laugh. "Thank you."

He places a quick kiss to my lips. "You're welcome."

I turn back around, facing the sink, with a smile on my face as Jace leans up against the counter, to my left, and watches me.

"Did you have any time to work on your vows today?" He asks.

I spit. "No, not really. Did you?"

"No, but I did think of something on the way home." He says, and the way he says it sounds mysterious.

"Oh really? And what was that?" I ask skeptically as I reach for the bottle of mouth wash.

"You're just going to have to wait and see." He says proudly with a sly smile.

I scoff. "Now when you brought up the idea of writing our own vows, it was agreed that we'd do them together. Not you do yours, and I do mine."

"And we will." He says reassuringly as he places his hands on my shoulders. He runs his hands up and down my arms. "There's just a few things that you won't know about until it's time for me to say mine."

"That's not fair." I say with a chuckle.

He kisses my cheek. "All's fair in love and war, baby." He says sweetly with a smile, and I growl at him. He laughs as he walks off, entering into our bedroom.

There he goes stealing my words again, but that's alright. I narrow my eyes at myself in the mirror and with a mental evil laugh, I think...

 _It's time for a little payback!_

* * *

 **Well, I hope you liked this chapter!**

 **Thank you to all of those that have left me reviews! I can't wait to read what you have to say now. MWAH!**

 **We got some Todd in there, and he's single. Sniff, sniff. Who would like to see him end up with, though? Let me know, it can be anyone you want. And w** **hat do you think Clary is going to do?**

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	4. My Dear Sweet

**Jace**

As I sit at the desk in mine and Clary's bedroom, staring at the ideas I have jotted down for my vows, I see Clary come out of the bathroom out the corner of my eye. I look over at her, and watch as she crawls across my side of the bed over to her side. An adoring smile appears on my face as I sigh inwardly. I'll never get tired of seeing that, and I'll never get tired of her sleeping in my old Army t-shirt. _Well,_ I think with a laugh. _That is when I allow to her actually sleep in it._ She may come to bed wearing it, but it hardly ever stays on long before it's hitting the floor.

She crawls under the covers, leans back against her pillows, grabs the pad of paper and pencil off the nightstand on her side, and begins writing. I watch, completely memorized by her, and can't figure out why it is that no matter how hard I try, I can not for the life of me, figure out how to put into words how she makes me feel. I mean, I can think of it all day long, but when it comes to writing it down, I draw a blank. Nothing sounds right. No words can seem to describe it, how I want them to. I have written them at least a dozen times, and each time they've ended up in a ball and thrown in the trash. Maybe I should have just kept my big mouth shut, and just went with the usual vows. But noooo, I wanted them to be on a more personal level and something that hasn't been done to death, more original and from the heart. I thought it would be romantic. Instead it is turning into frustration, which is turning into a headache. However, there is no way in hell that I'm going to tell Clary that. After all, it was my idea. _Come on now, Jace._ I scold myself. _This is for Clary, you can do this. It's just you telling her how you feel, and what you promise to her._ I remind myself. I take a deep breath, and turn back around. I am half way turned around when I hear Clary scribbling hard on the paper. A minute or two later, she quietly groans.

"This is so freaking annoying," she grumbles under her breath, and I turn back around.

"What is?" I ask, unsure of what she's working on at the moment. She could be fooling around with baby names again, her vows, another ad, or something else entirely. She has been talking about writing the baby a letter, and suggested that I write one too, so it could be that.

She looks up at me, suddenly jumps out of the bed, and makes a mad dash for the bathroom. I hear her getting sick, so I rush in to find her kneeled over the toilet, hugging it as if her life depended on it. I sit down on the floor beside her, hold her hair back from her face with my left hand while rubbing her back with my right hand. When she is finished expelling more food than I can recall her even eating, she leans over and rest her head against my chest; and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close to me while I hold her.

"Want some water?" I ask in a whisper.

She shakes her head no, very slowly. "Not yet."

I start stroking her hair with my right hand. "I thought you were over the morning sickness part, is it back?"

"God I hope not," she says with a small laugh. "I think the baby just didn't like the combination of sweet and sour chicken, and all the chocolate and vanilla ice cream mommy ate."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound to appealing to me either." I say teasingly.

She chuckles. "Oh, hush. It's not like I mixed the two together and ate it, that would be gross."

I smile as I slide my left hand from her side over to her stomach, and begin to rub the little baby bump that she's got going on now. "You tell that to them."

She pulls back, sitting up, and looks at me with raised eyebrows. "One, there's only one baby in there."

"You don't know that." I say picking at her, with amusement.

"Oh, yes I do. There was only one baby in the ultrasound, that means only one." She says with certainty, and holding up her right index finger.

"One could have been hiding behind the other." I say, trying not to smile. "It's been known to happen, you know."

She gives me a dirty look. "Bite your tongue."

"Oh come on," I tease. "Two mini us' running around would be awesome!"

"If you say so." She says with a sigh. She stands up. "Think about it like this, though; that's twice as many diapers, twice as many feedings, twice as many of everything."

I stand up and follow her towards the sink. I hope that doesn't mean what I think it does, so with my eyebrows raised I decide to ask, "So does that mean that you never want to have another baby?"

She shakes her head no as she turns on the sink, and begins filling the glass we keep beside it, for times like this, with water.

"I didn't say that, I'm just saying that I don't want to be pregnant with twins." She gets a mouthful of water, swishes it around, and then spits it out. "Besides, with everything else we have going on right now, it seems like it would be way to much to juggle."

"Well, _if_ it does turn out to be twins, we'll figure it out." I say reassuringly, with all the confidence in the world, and I can see her smile in the mirror.

"We always do."

I smile back at her. I know she's right, no matter what it is, we always seem to figure it out and pull through it somehow; and we have always come out stronger than we were before.

"You know, you can go back to whatever it was you were doing," she says, putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, again. "I'm good now."

"You sure?" I ask hesitantly. I don't want to leave her in case she gets sick again.

She chuckles and shakes her head yes. "I'm sure. By the way, thank you," she says, and then puts her toothbrush in her mouth.

"You're welcome." I kiss the back of her head. "Alright, well since you are sure, when you're done, come to bed. We can snuggle or whatever you want."

"Okay." She says somewhat distorted, and with that I leave her to finish up.

I walk over to the desk that I was at earlier, grab the pad of paper and pencil that I've been using, and head over to our bed. After I get settled, I flip to a clean sheet of paper, and write...

 _My Dear Sweet Precious One._

* * *

 **Clary**

I walk out of the bathroom to find Jace in bed with his knees drawn up and his notebook leaned against his thighs, while writing; and the sight causes me to stop dead in my tracks. He looks so adorable as he seems to be concentrating hard on whatever it is he's writing, and I don't want to disturb him. I take a couple of steps back and lean against the dresser, never taking my eyes off of him. _What is he working on?_ I begin to wonder to myself. As hard as he is concentrating, it could be a list for some things they need at the shop. Then again, he could be working on his vows. It could be a number of things he is doing. I know one things for certain, though; I really, _really_ need to get to work on writing my own wedding vows.

I don't know why it seems to be so hard to get them done, but I know it shouldn't be taking me this long. I mean seriously, it is ridiculous that I don't have them done, memorized, and ready to go for the twenty seventh already. I have started them, however. I just either end up falling asleep face first on my notebook, or my mind tends to start wandering off in a million different directions about everything and anything. I start thinking about Thanksgiving dinner, and how this year we are having it here at our house; last year we had it at Maryse's house, so it's our turn to host. Another baby name will pop into my head, and I have to write it down before I end up forgetting it. An idea for Brad's Burger Hut, or one of the other websites and ads I'm working on, will pop into my head. Thankfully, I have finally finished the one Maryse had me do for her law firm, the one Robert had me do for his practice, and the one for my mom's art work; or I would be even more scattered brained.

 _Ugh!_ I think to myself with an inward groan. _I should not have taken on so much all at once! What in the hell was I thinking?_ You wasn't, that's the problem. I should have. But you didn't. I know that -

"Hey," Jace says with his left eyebrow raised, interrupting the argument I was just having inside my head with myself and for a second I think that I may in fact be losing my mind. "I thought you were coming to bed when you were done."

I take a deep breath. "I was, but you looked busy and I didn't want to interrupt you."

"You can interrupt me anytime," he says with certainty, and a smile. He stands up, sits the notebook and pencil down on the nightstand that is on his side of the bed, and walks over to me. "I was starting to think you might have fallen asleep in there."

"No, just watching you." I say with a small smile.

He looks at me with confusion and concern written all over his face, and cups my face in his hands. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah." I say simply while nodding. "Why?"

"You looked like you were a million miles away, and you look like something is bugging you." He explains, still holding my face gently in his hands.

"Nope." I say popping the p, and trying to seem like my normal self as much as possible. "I guess I'm just tired is all."

"Well, come on and let's go to bed then." He says sweetly.

"Jace!" I squeal in surprise as he scoops me up in one quick motion, his right arm behind my back and his left arm under my legs, and I wrap my arms around his neck.

He laughs while looking me in my eyes. "What?" He asks, acting innocent.

I shake my head slightly at him with a chuckle. "You are incorrigible."

"Yeah," he sighs with a grin on his face. "But you love me."

"For some unknown reason." I say while playfully rolling my eyes.

He scoffs in mock hurt, as he begins to make his way towards the bed with me still in his arms. "So it's like that now, huh?"

I laugh silently. "It's always like that, I thought you knew."

He looks down at me with raised eyebrows, and it is obvious to me that he is trying not to smile, as he crawls up on the bed. He lays me down in the center of our pillows, and then straddles my thighs and pins my hands, slightly above each side my head.

"Oh, really?" He asks nonchalantly, and as soon as he is done asking that, a devilish, ear to ear grin appears across his face.

Oh no, I know that smirk of his, and considering the fact that we are in bed, and the way he has me pinned down; he is either about to tickle me, or he is about to try to -

Before I can finish thinking it, Jace leans down and begins placing hot, wet kisses along my neck causing me to moan with pleasure. He works his way down to the hollow spot of my neck and starts sucking on it, to which I groan and then let out a quick laugh. He pulls back and looks at me puzzled.

"What exactly is so funny?" He asks curiously, then he smiles and places a small kiss on my lips. I suck in my bottom lip and bite it, and then shake my head slightly at him. "Something." He says kissing my right cheek. "Was." He says kissing my left cheek. He places a kiss on my forehead, each of my temples, my right eyelid.

"I knew it," I say proudly as he kisses my left eyelid.

"Knew what?" He asks as he brings his eyes level with mine.

"That you were going to try and take advantage of me." I say with a smirk and my eyebrows raised.

He chuckles. "Is there a problem with that?"

I pretend to ponder the thought, hiding any and all signs of amusement. "Maybe."

"Why, what's wrong?" He asks becoming very serious suddenly, and taking a deep audible breath as he raises up; holding himself up on his hands as he hovers above me. "Am I hurting your stomach? Are you still feeling sick? What's-"

"Jace," I say firmly, interrupting his rambling concerns. "I'm fine, and no, you are _not_ hurting me. Chill out, jeez."

He releases the breath he's been holding, but the concern is still visible on his face. "What is it then?"

I reach up and put my left hand on his right cheek. "I was just messing with you."

He shakes his head slightly, and I can see the relief wash over him. "You really shouldn't do things like that to me."

"And you should quit acting like the sky is falling every time I turn around. You know, ever since I told you, you've been overly cautious." I remove my hand from his cheek, and put my index fingers together. "You don't like me being left alone-"

"I wonder why," he mumbles, interrupting me. I raise both eyebrows giving him an 'oh really, and what's that suppose to mean' look. He raises his eyebrows back at me. "Izzy did come home and find you passed out on the kitchen floor."

"That was from a dizzy spell, and I haven't had one of those in a couple of weeks now." I reason with him.

"Well, it was enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, now wasn't it." He says instead of asking.

"Only because you guys all insisted that I should at least go to get the baby checked." I say quickly, in my defense. Tile floors are not very forgiving, but I was released the same day with only a slight concussion and told to take tylenol as needed for pain.

I felt worse for poor Alec and Bat, though. They rushed over here with Jace and Jon knowing that I had been found passed out on the floor, and having no idea about me being pregnant. They looked so confused when Jace had kept rubbing my stomach and asking me if I hit it when I fell, and Jon was constantly asking if my stomach was hurting. That is until I finally blew my lid, when Izzy asked if I was feeling any cramping. I stood straight up, stomped my foot, and shouted, 'No, I'm not cramping! No, my stomach doesn't hurt! As far I know, no I didn't hit my stomach! The baby is fine, it's my head that hurts, and all y'alls incessant questioning isn't helping it feel any better!' That was when I realized what I had just said and looked over at Alec and Bat, both appeared to be in shock as were the other three. I really didn't want the two of them to find out that way. I had it all planned out. I was going to wait until _after_ I was out of the 'danger zone' and then I'd invite everybody over for a barbeque and tell them that way, but obviously it didn't go according to plan. Instead they found out, in what I can only describe as being bad timing. That sent the two of them into the same panic state as Jace, Izzy, and Jon. Needless to say, the five of them finally wore me down and got me to go to the hospital; but only because they pointed out that I could have in fact hit my stomach and just didn't remember, so I needed to go get evaluated. Basically, they used the baby as leverage to get me there.

"It's better to be safe, then sorry," he says with a shrug.

"I know," I say with a sigh. "But it was the one time and I've been fine ever since, and it's still no reason to keep being so.." I pause searching for the words I need to use to get my point across.

"Over bearing."

I shake my head slightly. "Not over bearing, just over protective and jumpy. You constantly act like something is wrong every time you think I look off, or like a minute ago, when I was just joking around. You know that I'd tell you in a heartbeat if I thought something was wrong with the baby, don't you?"

"Yeah," he says with a slight smile.

"Besides," I say sweetly with a small smile. "Women have been having babies for like.. ever, and I bet they weren't treated like some fragile porcelain doll."

"You're right." He says while dramatically rolling his eyes. He leans down and gives me a soft, small kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like that. It's just that I'm excited, and I'm a little scared, and I worry about the _both_ of you."

"I'm excited and a little scared too. And even though we're no longer in the danger zone, I still find myself worrying from time to time that something will happen like the last time." I admit, both of us looking sad at the mention of it. "But I can't let it consume me, cause if I did, I wouldn't be able to function properly."

"I think that's what I've done." He says honestly.

I have been wanting to tell him this for awhile now, but wasn't really sure how to bring it up. I was also afraid that I'd bring him down if I told him, and I knew he was worried already, so I didn't want to add to it. However, I think he is handling it very well. _You should've known that._ A voice inside my head says. _It's you and him against the world._ Says another. _I know that!_ I reply confidentially inside my head to the voice. I seriously am starting to think that I'm losing my mind. I think I did some damage when I hit my head, because ever since.. I've been hearing these voices. I think I may need to have a CAT scan done.-

"Hey you," Jace says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I hum.

"Did you hear what I said?" He asks looking puzzled.

"I don't guess so." I admit. "Sorry."

"Sometimes I wish that I could see what was going on inside that pretty little head of yours." He sighs with a smile. "I said that I'll try to do better."

"My dear sweet, Jace." I say as I lean up onto my elbows. I give him a slightly lingering kiss on the lips. "That's all that I ask."

* * *

 **I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! And I'm sorry for not posting sooner! Things have been really, really crazy on my end.**

 **I actually had this one written already, just didn't have time to post it. I'm hoping to get back to posting at least one chapter a week, but no promises. Because I don't make a promise that I'm not certain that I can definitely keep. So fingers crossed! I really wish I could post like I did with High School Sweethearts and High School Sweethearts 2: Surprise, Surprise. All of those that were with me back then know, I posted a new chapter everyday. Awh, the good old days lol.**

 **Don't forget to leave me a review. What do you think about this chapter? What do you think is going to happen? Could Clary be pregnant with twins? XD If so, do you think one will be girl and the other boy, or both girls, or both boys?**

 **Review, favorite, follow! Mwah!**

 **OH, one last thing! The next chapter of Sweet Redemption should be posted soon! YAY! Mrs Jace Wayland-Herondale and myself, have been working on it again today, and we can't wait to get it finished and posted! For those of you that haven't read it yet, you should go check her out. You'd have to read Sweet Revenge first, but I'm sure you'll love it!**

* * *

 **mblaikie, I tried to reply to your review but it tells me... Private Message Posting Denied, This user has disabled the private messaging feature. I'm so glad to know that you love all my stories! That's sweet! Thank you, and thank you for reading them!**


	5. What's Wrong?

**Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down; The Anthem - Good Charlotte**

* * *

 **Alec**

By the time me and Magnus finally made it to his place last night, it was nearly one in the morning. Then after we were _actually_ ready to go to bed and sleep, and got a shower in, it was after three. So needless to say, I did _not_ want to get up and come in to work today.

When the alarm clock went off this morning, I wanted to throw the stupid thing across the room, and stay in bed with Magnus until at least noon. But I reminded myself that today was the last day that we were going to be open for the week, since tomorrow the gang plans on surprising Clary by helping her get things started for Thanksgiving dinner; such as preparing pies, cakes, cobblers, among other foods. We are also going to decorate, and get everything set up so that there isn't so much for her to do come Thursday. Yet for all she knows, we are just planning on going down to the beach and surfing before things get really crazy. So, I forced myself to get out of bed, and got ready for work.

Once I got to work, I put on a pot of coffee. I _knew_ that the cup I brought with me, definitely wasn't going to be enough caffeine for me to make it through my day. Afterwards, I got to work on opening all the blinds, and turned on the computer. Then I made myself another cup of coffee, and parked myself in front of the computer.

"Morning, Alec," Bat says in greeting, and in my peripheral vision I can see him walking through the front door of the shop, holding a cup of coffee.

"Morning," I reply from behind the lobby desk, and looking directly up at him from my game of solitaire.

"Why's Clary's car out front?" He asks with his eyebrows furrowed together, as he approaches. He puts his arms on the countertop, his hands and cup of coffee hanging over on to the side that I'm sitting on. "Is something wrong with it?"

"Nawh," I say, shaking my head. I point behind me with my right thumb. "Her and Izzy are in her office."

"Clary going to teach Izzy the ropes around here?" Bat asks with a little amusement in his tone.

"Probably not in this lifetime," I say with a laugh. "You know Izzy has already said that, she doesn't really care to know how any of this works."

"Yeah, but, she'll answer phones and take peoples money if we need her too." He says slightly dramatic and mocking Izzy. "So, what are they doing here then?"

I laugh at his impersonation. "They have baby doctor appointments later, remember?"

"Okay. Sooo?" He asks, looking completely confused and gesturing with his left hand for me to give him more information.

"So," I sigh. "They're going to hang out here until time to go, so Jace and Jon don't have to leave us short handed earlier then necessary. Weren't you still at their house when they talked about it?"

Usually, Clary, Jace, and Jon leave here and meet Izzy at the doctor's office since she's at school, but since she's on vacation this week, Jace and Jon were going to meet the girls at their house and take one vehicle instead of two. Then Clary suggested to Izzy that the two of them could just come up here and chill until time to go, and also mentioned that it would not only save on gas but time too. Which of course, Izzy wasn't going for it at first; she argued that she wanted to sleep in. Then Clary argued that if they didn't, it would mean that Jace and Jon would have to leave earlier, and that would lead to me and Bat being short handed longer than usual. Finally Izzy agreed, just like I was sure she would.

He seems to be thinking it over, a short moment later his face lights up as it seems to dawn on him. "Oh, yeah! I remember now."

I shake my head while rolling my eyes dramatically at him. "I swear, you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached."

He laughs. "I think I've been told that a time or two... Dozen."

"I was about to say." I say in laughter.

"What's so funny?" I hear Clary asks in amusement from behind me.

I spin the chair around to face her. "How many times Bat would have forgotten his head if it wasn't attached."

"At least a hundred," Izzy says, as she walks around Clary, with a smirk on her face.

"More like two hundred," Clary says with a chuckle. She looks at Bat. "What did you forget this time? If it's something you need, me and Izzy can run and get it for you."

"No, it's nothing like that. I just forgot that you two were coming to hang out with us today, and thought something was wrong with your car." Bat explains. "But..."

Clary smiles at him, knowingly. "Let me guess, you're hungry." I assume Bat shakes his head yes, because a couple of seconds later she says, "Sausage, biscuit, and gravy with a side order of pancakes."

"You know me, oh so well." Bat says, and I can see his ear to ear, toothy grin in the reflection of the picture frame that hangs on the wall. It's the same one that Clary and Izzy got us, only now it holds a picture of all four of us guys, as well as the after picture of the shop. I keep telling Clary that we need to replace the group picture with one that has her in it too, since she's become such a big part of the business, but she refuses, brushing it off by saying that she doesn't do much around here.

"Guess it's time to take breakfast orders then," Clary says with a happy grin, that causes her eyes to sparkle and me to smile as well. I hadn't realized how much I truly missed her yesterday, that is until now; she has this way of brightening the place up. She turns to look at Izzy. "I'll be back in a minute, unless you want to come with me to get the other two's orders."

"I'm good, it smells back there," Izzy says with her top lip curled up, like Elvis Presley's signature look but hers is more in disgust.

"Alright," Clary responds. She turns to look at me with a playful evil eye and points with her right index finger. "You better be sure of what you want before I leave, Mister. I don't want a hundred phone calls and texts because you've changed your mind."

I throw my hands up in surrender. "Yes, Ma'am."

She nods her head once, and I know it means 'that's what I thought,' and then begins to make her way to the door that leads into the actual shop part of the building.

"I only did that once," I mumble under my breath.

"Twice!" Clary hollers, just as she walks through the door.

 _Damn!_ I think with a smile. I was sure that I'd get away with that one, but nope. Sometimes I swear that, that woman has got hearing like a bat. Unless she's in her own little world, it's hard to get anything past her. Then again, maybe it's because she knows me so well. I don't know. But I do know one thing for certain...

 _I can't help but love her!_

* * *

 **Clary**

I walk into the back of the shop to find Jace and Jon, hopping around and spraying each other with the air hoses. I can't help but smiling and shaking my head at the sight of these two buffoons acting like little kids. I should have known though. They always seem to find a way to amuse themselves when things are dead around here.

Last time, I caught them, along with Bat, pretending that they were shooting each other with the impact wrenches; and Alec was using the spray gun, that he's suppose to use for painting vehicles, to pretend to be shooting them. All four of them were even making 'Pwem, Pwem' noises as they shot at each other.

"Hey, guys," I holler, interrupting their little game. "Stop horse-assing around before somebody gets hurt, and give me your breakfast order."

The two stop and look at me as if I just broke their hearts. Then Jon sprays air at me.

I raise my right eyebrow. "It's going to be like that, huh?"

"Uh huh," he says, grinning devilishly. "And what exactly are _you_ going to do about it, _Little Sister_?"

I return his devilish grin with one of my own. You'd think by now, that he'd know better than to challenge me, but apparently not.

"Oh hell! It's about to get real up in here," Jace says, and I can hear the amusement in his voice. He puts his hands up in the air, dropping the air hose he held, and backs away from Jon, very _slowly_. "Just remember, Clary. I had nothing to do with it."

"I know," I say looking at him with my grin still in place. I take a step towards Jon, who I can see out the corner of my eye is still grinning as well. "That's because you know better. Jonny on the other hand, has never learned, and probably never will."

"Bwah-hahaha," Jon says in a laugh, trying to be scary. "I'm not scared of you. It is you- OWWW!"

I kick him in the knee, without ever taking my eyes away from Jace, interrupting his - what suppose to be - intimidating speech. He hunches over, grabbing his knee, while looking up at me.

I look at Jon and throw my arms back, challenging him right back to bring it on while saying, "Now what?!"

"I'm gonna get you for this, Clarissa." Jon says in his evil voice again.

I bend down and look him straight into the eyes, while grinning evilly. "Oh, I'm not scared. Besides, who said I was done with you yet anyways, _Big Brother_?"

"You might want to sleep with one eye open from now on, and grow some eyes on the back of your head, Jonny Boy." Jace says, taunting him and then laughs shortly. "Maybe I should go stay at my mom's for a little while."

"Why?" I ask him.

"Because I don't want to get caught up in the middle of y'alls war," Jace says, pointing between me and Jon. " _Again_! There's no telling what will happen to me this time."

"Oh, quit being such a wuss puss," Jon tells him.

Jace looks at him with a 'oh no you didn't' look.' "I'm not, I'm just being smart. Besides, _you're_ not the one that walked around looking like a damn leprechaun for half a month, I was."

"I was too," I point out.

"That was good." Jon points at Jace while laughing. "You just happened to be collateral damage."

"You put green dye in the swimming pool, and you really didn't expect anybody else to jump in?" I ask Jon in slight disbelief with my eyes narrowed at him. I'm sure he knew that somebody else was going to, but he just refuses to admit it out loud.

"Not really," Jon says with a shrug. "I knew you were going to go swimming that night while mom and dad were at his company party, because I overheard you talking to Izzy about it. I just didn't know you were going to go skinny dipping with Jace."

"Yeah, and you got grounded for a month when d-" I say before stopping abruptly as something dawns on me. "Wait a minute. How did you know that we went skinny dipping?"

Jace raises his hand hesitantly, and looks like he's preparing himself to be yelled at. "I kinda let it slip out the next day, when I was explaining to Alec how I got turned green."

I huff. "I should've known it was you, because me and you were the only two that knew, since it was your last minute idea to go skinny dipping because Izzy didn't show."

"That's what happens when ninth graders decide to do things they shouldn't," Jon says proudly.

"We weren't ninth graders, it was the summer before tenth grade," Jace says defensively.

"Yeah," I say, agreeing with Jace. I point at Jon. "And lucky for you, it _finally_ washed off before school started, or you would have went to school looking like a purple people eater."

Jace laughs. "That would've been funny as hell."

"I think I would have preferred _that,_ over going to school looking, _and smelling,_ like a big glob of _mustard,_ " Jon says sarcastically. Me and Jace both laugh, I assume Jace is laughing at the way Jon said it because this happened before he lived here, and Jon gives us the stink eye. "At least, I didn't end up getting a shot in _my ass,_ though."

"Oh bite me, Jonny." I retort. Of all the things he could've brought up, he just _had_ to bring up that one. "You and Alec were the ones that chased me into the crap."

"Which is why it's your fault," Jon says assuredly.

"How in the _hell_ do you figure that?" I ask.

"If you hadn't of ran into the woods and through poison ivy, then none of us would have looked like we did, and you wouldn't of had to get that damn shot," he explains.

"So, technically, it is your fault, Jonny." Jace chimes in. Jon looks at him in confusion, and I suck in both my lips; trying to keep myself from laughing. "You were chasing her, she ran into the woods, and you followed behind her on your own freewill. Ergo, your fault."

"Oh shut up, Jace," Jon says exasperatedly, and I can't help it anymore, I bust out laughing. He squints his eyes at me. "Shut up, Clary."

"Neverrr.." I say in laughter. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my laughter down. "If you give me your breakfast order though, I'll leave you alone for a little while."

"Fine," Jon says dramatically. "I want pancakes, steak, and eggs."

"What about you?" I ask Jace.

"I don't know," Jace says with a shrug. "Surprise me."

"I can do that." I say with a smile. I take a step towards Jon, since he is the one closest to me, and he jumps back with his right fist balled up and drawn back; as if he thinks I'm going to do something to him and is getting ready to punch me. I chuckle. "Chill out. I'm not going to get you when you're expecting it."

He looks at me in disbelief. "Never know about you," he says while hesitantly lowering his fist.

I laugh and kiss his cheek. "I'll be back."

"Thanks for the warning," he says, then kisses my cheek, and I can feel his smile against it. I playfully slap his arm.

I walk over to Jace, wrap my arms around his neck, and lightly bite his lower lip, causing him to groan. "Try not to kill each other while I'm gone," I say teasingly with a grin.

"No promises," Jace says with a chuckle. He kisses my lips, softly and slightly lingering. "Be careful."

"I will," I say reassuringly. I pull my arms back down and head for the door. "I love you, Jonathan Morgenstern and Jonathan Herondale!"

"I love you, Clarissa!" Jon says back to me as Jace says, "I love you too, Clarissa Herondale!"

I smile, not only because I have amazing guys that love me, but because the sound of my first name has an even better ring to it when used with the last name Herondale, and I love it. It was something I never thought I'd hear, again. _It was destiny!_ Rings one of the voices inside my head, causing me to smile even bigger. _Fate brought you two back together, now you need to tell him._ Says another sternly, and my smile quickly fades away.

"I know." I say out loud with a sigh, but quietly enough that Jace and Jon can't hear me. I can however, faintly hear them picking at each other as I continue to make my way to the door. Jon is saying that Herondale isn't my last name, yet. Jace is saying that it's close enough. Jon comes back with how Jace can always take our last name. But I can't even enjoy it, because all I can seem to really think about is...

 _Why won't these voices just leave me alone?_

* * *

 **Isabelle**

"Why does is smell so funky back there?" I ask Clary as we make our way out to her car.

She stops, causing me to stop, and looks at me with her head tilted to her left, slightly, and her face scrunched up. "It smells like a shop." She looks forwards and starts walking again. "And you've never had a problem with the smell of grease before."

"I still don't," I state while shaking my head with my eyebrows raised. "It just doesn't smell like only grease in there. There is something, well... I don't really know how to describe it."

"It could be the lacquers and paints," she says, obviously thinking it over. "But you should be use to that, considering Alec use to come home smelling like it all the time."

I sigh. "I don't think it's that either."

"I guess, it could be the diesel," she reasons.

"Maybe," I say with a shrug. "But, I know that smell, and it's not what I smell back there."

"It's got to be that pregnancy sense of smell," she says with a chuckle, as we reach the car.

"You think?" I ask as I open the passenger door, and climb in.

"It's the only thing I can think of," she says while shutting her door. "They do say that when you're pregnant, that your sense of smell is heightened."

I huff. "Well, I don't like it. Who knew being pregnant was so hard?."

While laughing, she says, "Every woman that has ever been pregnant." She drops the car in reverse, backs up, and then drops it in drive, and we take off. "Even though you hear the stories you don't believe them, you think 'oh that wouldn't happen with me.' You think you'll look and feel like those women in movies, then WHAM!" She hits the steering wheel when she says wham.

"I know right!" I quickly say, dramatically, as we pull out of the parking lot and onto the road. "It makes me hate them! You never see them suffering through morning sickness. They never seem to be tired, and they never seem to have anything go wrong. They don't even forget the simplest of things. For crying out loud, I don't know if they are downplaying labor or not, but that parts got me worried."

"That's because they're not really pregnant, they're just acting. And you still have a ways to go before you go into labor, so don't sweat it just yet." _Listen to her being all wise owl on me,_ I think to myself in amusement. "How's your morning sickness anyway?"

"Still coming and going," I grumble. "You're so lucky that you aren't still suffering with it."

She glances over at me. "I don't understand why you've still got it. You might want to talk to Doctor T about it when we see her today."

"That's a good idea," I say cheerfully, or at least as cheerfully as someone that feels like they are about to hurl again can. I am so happy that she suggested it, cause I sure as hell haven't thought about that. "Don't let me forget."

"Forget what?" She asks.

I quickly look over at her, and can see her trying not to smile. So, I slap her arm while sucking on my top teeth, and making a sucking noise as I stop.

"Very funny, Clare-Bear." I say while shaking my head slightly at her.

"I thought it was," she says with a smile.

I sit back and the two of us fall into silence. After a short moment, I turn up the radio; since I know that neither one of us remembered our iPods from our discussion with Jace and Jon, this morning on the way to the shop. We sing along with nearly all the songs that come on, but other than that.. we say nothing to each other for the rest of the drive.

We pull up to ' _The International House of Pancakes,'_ park, get out and go inside. Clary places Jace, Jon, Alec, and Bat's orders while looking at the menu, and then turns to me asking what I want. I tell the girl behind the counter that I want some pancakes, and Clary informs me that bacon helps with nausea; so I add on some to my order. Clary tells the girl her order - which consist of an omelet, hash browns, and bacon - and that all of it is to go. We sit in silence while we wait on the food, and I begin to watch Clary carefully.

She's acting like something is bothering her, and I hope it isn't about what happened yesterday. Everything seemed alright last night between us, and earlier this morning she seemed fine, but now I feel as if I'm getting the silent treatment. I know that can't really be the case though, because she's been acting like this off and on, with everybody, for a while now.

We get the large order we placed and leave. We're about two thirds of the way back to the shop when I finally can't take the quite anymore and decide to break the silence.

"You've been awfully quite," I say over the radio to Clary. I mean, sure she's been singing along to songs, every once in awhile, but not like usual. She hasn't gotten into them and started dancing in her seat. She didn't even sing like a mad person when ' _Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down_ ' came on, and she always has; it's one of her favorites. "What's up?"

She looks over at me. "Just thinking," she replies, and then looks back to the road.

"About what?" I ask, hiding my curiosity behind a cheerful tone and a smile.

She shrugs. "Things."

"Well, I kinda figured that," I say with a laugh. "But, what kind of things?"

She chuckles. "The wedding, the baby..." She stops, takes an audible deep breath, and then blows out the air through her mouth. "Can I ask you something?" she asks as she looks at me with a serious and questioning look.

I raise my eyebrows with them furrowed together, I know that she knows the answer to that. "Duh."

She smiles slightly, and looks back to the road. "If I was going crazy, what would you do? Would you have me committed? Would you still love me?"

"Of course I'd still love you, and no, I wouldn't have you committed. But, I'm confused." I admit. "Where did that come from? Do you think you're going crazy?"

She shrugs her right shoulder. "It was just a hypothetical question."

"Do you _not_ remember high school?" I ask sarcastically.

She glances over at me with her left eyebrow raised. "Which part?"

"The part where we use to yell at passing cars that we all lived in a yellow submarine," I say, and I can see a grin cross her face when I say passing cars, which causes me to smile.

"I couldn't forget _that_ , even if I wanted to." She laughs. "We use to tell the guys that we were going to go get ourselves put in a round, padded room together, so we could bounce off the walls. And when we were asked what we were doing, we were gonna tell them that -"

"We're looking for the corner," we say in unison, and then begin laughing.

She sighs happily. "Those were the days."

"Were? They still are!" I turn sideways in my seat, and put my hand on the bend of her right arm. "We are _not_ old yet, and even if we were.. you'd figure out something for us to do, to keep life interesting."

She chuckles. "I wouldn't be to sure about that if I were you. I could end up old and boring."

"Ha! You boring?. That is never going to happen." I tell her, assuringly. I chuckle. "Now old, that's a different story."

"You got jokes," she says with a laugh.

"Uh huh," I say proudly.

Just then Clary turns up the radio, ' _The Anthem by Good Charlotte_ ' is just coming on. Then she reaches over and slaps my left thigh, and the two of us start singing along, like a couple of crazed people. She's bobbing around her seat with a big ass smile, and I have one to match while playing arm drums, as I think...

 _Now this is more like it!_

* * *

 **Wow! I can't believe it's taken me so long to update. I'm sorry but life just keeps getting crazier with every passing day. Hopefully once this day is finally over, things will start to calm down. I doubt it, but I can have wishful thoughts. Lol.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this update, though! I loved writing the 'childish' parts. So, let me know with a review your thoughts on this chapter.**

 **I don't know when I'll be able to update again, so all I am going to say is... Fingers, _and toes_ , crossed that it's soon! I am really hating the fact that I can't write and post everyday, like I did with HSS and HSS2. It's driving me completely mad!**

 **I hope you have all had a great Christmas day, or whichever holiday you celebrate! Much Love! Mwah!**

 **Oh... Go check out my girl, Mrs Jace Wayland-Herondale. She just updated Significance of Numbers a few days ago.**

 **Also, don't forget to review, follow, and even favorite. Now on to update, 'What Hides In The Shadows'!**


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